£4MBILL FOR 84 QUITTING

Payouts come amid shrinking public service budgets

- BY CHRIS MCCALL

THE SNP Government shelled out £4million on golden goodbyes last year at a time when public services were coming under increasing strain due to shrinking budgets.

A total of 84 settlement agreements for civil servants, NHS chiefs and other public sector employees were signed off by ministers in 2023-24 - the highest total in five years.

Among those receiving large pay-offs last year was the sacked chief executive of the crisis-hit Ferguson Marine shipyard in Port Glasgow.

David Tydeman pocketed about £110,000 after the company's board unanimously agreed to oust him in March 2024.

The exact amount Tydeman received is not revealed in a document prepared for the Scottish Parliament's public audit committee.

The full list of individuals who received a taxpayer pay-out last year is also not made public.

Fergusons was nationalised by the government in 2019 after being plunged into.

administration due to massive cost overruns involved in building two CalMac ferries, one of which is still unfinished.